Leipzig is the city of books and music. Johann Sebastian Bach composed his cantatas in the St. Thomas Church; Martin Luther disputed the future of Christianity at Germany's second oldest university; and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's "Faust" got into a brawl at Auerbach's Keller, one of many historical trade-fair buildings. Leipzig, the site of one of the world's oldest and largest book fairs, is located at the meeting point of historic imperial roads between Paris and Moscow, and Rome and the Baltic Sea. It is the city where Richard Wagner was born, Clara met Franz Schumann, Edward Grieg learned to play the piano, Felix Mendelssohn rediscovered Bach, Erich Kästner visited the coffee house, and Kurt Masur directed the Gewandhaus. It is also the city whose rallies at the St. Nicholas Church led to the downfall of Communism in 1989. Since then, Leipzig has been splendidly rebuilt. In December 2015, the city will be one thousand years old. This book brings to life the stories of ordinary and famous Leipzigers.

Berlinica offers English-language books from Berlin, German; fiction, non-fiction, travel guides, history about the Wall and the Third Reich, Jewish life, art, architecture and photography, as well as books about nightlife, cookbooks, and maps. It also offers documentaries and feature films on DVD, as well as music CDs. Berlinica caters to history buffs, Americans of German heritage, travelers, and artists and young people who love the cutting-edge city in the heart of Europe.

Berlinica's current and upcoming titles include "Berlin! Berlin! Dispatches from the Weimar Republic," by Kurt Tucholsky, "Jews in Berlin," by Andreas Nachama, Julius H. Schoeps, and Hermann Simon, a comprehensive book on Jewish history and present in the German capital, "Wings of Desire-Angels of Berlin," by Lother Heinke," "The Berlin Wall Today," a full-color guide to the remnants of the Wall, "Wallflower," a novel by New-York-born writer Holly-Jane Rahlens; "Berlin For Free," a guide to everything free in Berlin for the frugal traveler by Monika Maertens; "Berlin in the Cold War," about post-World War II history and the Wall, "The Berlin Cookbook," a full-color collection of traditional German recipes by Rose Marie Donhauser, the music CD "Berlin-mon amour," by chanteuse Adrienne Haan, and two documentaries on DVD, "The Red Orchestra," by Berlin-born artist Stefan Roloff and "The Path to Nuclear Fission," by New York filmmaker Rosemarie Reed.

Sebastian Ringel is a German author born in the village of Grossroehrsdorf in 1976. He was raised in Oberlausitz, where he completed his secondary education in 1995. He left university studies in history at the Dresden University of Technology to complete training in occupational therapy. His first novel, Von der Monotonie des yeah, yeah, yeah (The Monotony of Yeah, Yeah, Yeah), was published by Radebeuler NOTschriften-Verlag in 2002. Ringel moved to Leipzig, where he still lives today. He published a collection of stories and poems, Mein Hund der Fisch (My Dog the Fish), in 2004. Inspired by a year-long sojourn in Australia, Ringel published the novel 5,8 Menschen (5.8 People) in 2009. He also works as an independent tour guide in Leipzig. In 2015, his book "Leipzig! One Thousand Years of German History", was released in German and English to commemorate the city's 1,000th anniversary.